"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wandering where it will go."
So, I'm letting my mind wander as I drive, and I'm thinking about vision tech. We have tech that lets us see deep below red, down into the useful frequencies of heat. We have tech that lets us see way past purple into the x-ray - though it's big and bulky. We have tech to "see" using sound and radio. In each case, the limit is the human brain: the tech has to translate the view into something the human eyes can see. Ergo, we can't see deep infrared AND visible light AND sound AND ... because it all needs to be translated into the rather narrow bandwidth our brains are equipped to handle through our eyes.
It doesn't have to be. At TL11, it is possible to have "artificial eyes" and "nerve refusion" (MT Referee's Companion). Conceivably, artificial eyes could be designed to extend the range of vision, permitting hawk-like ability to focus at a distance or improving nightvision to cat-like effectiveness, but extending up into the ultraviolet where birds see or down a bit into the near infrared might require improvements in the brain itself. At TL14, memory erasure hints at the ability to fiddle around with the fine structure of the brain, and genetic engineering is available. At some point, it becomes possible to genetically engineer a person with a brain capable of visualizing a much wider spectrum from birth, a person who could be equipped with prosthetic sensors allowing him/her to simultaneously visualize the deep infrared of the IR devices and the visible light spectrum, perhaps even to simultaneously integrate other sensor modalities - radar, x-ray - as different "colors" when hooked up to prosthetics capable of delivering that information.
Now:
1. What does canon say about bioengineering people to incorporate technological advancements at the personal level? Does it occur? Are there prohibitions? Other than the apparent phobic response that appears to occur at some point after the civil war sets in, are there any social repercussions to those people bred with such capabilities?
2. What other bioengineered tech incorporations are possible, and what are the social and practical consequences? Genegineering people to be able to integrate data flow from an artificial intelligence or other computing device, for example? Superhero comics offer a wide variety of options, but how would these genegeneered prosthetically enhanced people originate, what limits would Imperial government place on their creation and their activities, how would society respond to them? Is it "slavery" if a person genegeneered to use a prosthetic enhancement is also genegeneered from birth to possess fanatic loyalty, or if he's free to leave but the prosthetic has to stay, or if the only place people will tolerate him is within his employer's compound?
3. What adaptations might be available to players without throwing the game out of whack? Built-in jacks to plug into and understand computers? "Geordi"-style multifrequency visors? Microprocessor brain implants functioning as calculators or microencyclopedias? What could be added to an adult brain, and what would need to be engineered into the developing brain during gestation to be possible?
So, I'm letting my mind wander as I drive, and I'm thinking about vision tech. We have tech that lets us see deep below red, down into the useful frequencies of heat. We have tech that lets us see way past purple into the x-ray - though it's big and bulky. We have tech to "see" using sound and radio. In each case, the limit is the human brain: the tech has to translate the view into something the human eyes can see. Ergo, we can't see deep infrared AND visible light AND sound AND ... because it all needs to be translated into the rather narrow bandwidth our brains are equipped to handle through our eyes.
It doesn't have to be. At TL11, it is possible to have "artificial eyes" and "nerve refusion" (MT Referee's Companion). Conceivably, artificial eyes could be designed to extend the range of vision, permitting hawk-like ability to focus at a distance or improving nightvision to cat-like effectiveness, but extending up into the ultraviolet where birds see or down a bit into the near infrared might require improvements in the brain itself. At TL14, memory erasure hints at the ability to fiddle around with the fine structure of the brain, and genetic engineering is available. At some point, it becomes possible to genetically engineer a person with a brain capable of visualizing a much wider spectrum from birth, a person who could be equipped with prosthetic sensors allowing him/her to simultaneously visualize the deep infrared of the IR devices and the visible light spectrum, perhaps even to simultaneously integrate other sensor modalities - radar, x-ray - as different "colors" when hooked up to prosthetics capable of delivering that information.
Now:
1. What does canon say about bioengineering people to incorporate technological advancements at the personal level? Does it occur? Are there prohibitions? Other than the apparent phobic response that appears to occur at some point after the civil war sets in, are there any social repercussions to those people bred with such capabilities?
2. What other bioengineered tech incorporations are possible, and what are the social and practical consequences? Genegineering people to be able to integrate data flow from an artificial intelligence or other computing device, for example? Superhero comics offer a wide variety of options, but how would these genegeneered prosthetically enhanced people originate, what limits would Imperial government place on their creation and their activities, how would society respond to them? Is it "slavery" if a person genegeneered to use a prosthetic enhancement is also genegeneered from birth to possess fanatic loyalty, or if he's free to leave but the prosthetic has to stay, or if the only place people will tolerate him is within his employer's compound?
3. What adaptations might be available to players without throwing the game out of whack? Built-in jacks to plug into and understand computers? "Geordi"-style multifrequency visors? Microprocessor brain implants functioning as calculators or microencyclopedias? What could be added to an adult brain, and what would need to be engineered into the developing brain during gestation to be possible?